1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal head for recording an image on a recording medium and a thermal recording apparatus using the thermal head.
For example, the present invention relates to a thermal head for recording an image on normal or thermal paper by a thermal transfer method or a normal thermal recording method, and a thermal recording apparatus using the thermal head.
2. Related Background Art
As recording apparatuses such as a printer, a facsimile, a typewriter, and the like, a serial-type recording apparatus is widely used. In a recording apparatus of this type, a recording head is mounted on a carriage which moves along a platen, and a recording operation is performed while the recording head scans a recording sheet (recording medium). A variety of recording methods such as an ink-jet method, a wire-dot method, a thermal method, and the like have been developed. A thermal recording apparatus includes a thermal transfer recording apparatus in which a normal sheet is employed, and a recording head (thermal head) is urged against the sheet through an ink ribbon to transfer a melted ink, and a thermal recording apparatus in which a thermal sheet (which is colored upon heating) is employed and a thermal head is urged against the sheet, so that the sheet is directly heated, thereby performing recording.
An ink ribbon includes a penetration type ribbon with which a thermally melted ink penetrates into a recording sheet, and an adhesion type ribbon for adhering ink onto a recording sheet surface upon melting. An adhesion type ribbon allows correction by lifting off a transferred ink.
Recently, a multilayered, multi-color ink ribbon developed. In a ribbon of this type, different ink layers are subjected to recording depending on a difference in lift-off temperature, so that a plurality of colors can be recorded by a single ribbon.
However, a conventional thermal head has only one recording heating member. Thus, when a penetration type ink ribbon, non-penetration type ink ribbon, a multilayered, multi-color ink ribbon, or the like is used, it is impossible to control a lift-off temperature by a single recording heating member.
For this reason, a recording operation using an ink ribbon and a lift-off operation cannot both be satisfactorily performed unless special control is made, e.g., a lift-off position of an ink ribbon is mechanically changed or a feed speed of an ink ribbon is changed.